{"id":167,"date":"2012-02-13T21:09:28","date_gmt":"2012-02-14T01:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/?p=167"},"modified":"2026-03-22T06:58:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T10:58:50","slug":"uncorking-old-brittle-corks-from-vintage-bottles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/uncorking-old-brittle-corks-from-vintage-bottles\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncorking Old, Brittle Corks from Vintage Bottles"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m not much for wine-service gadgets and gizmos, the like of the aerators now flooding the market, fancy funnels and decanters, and tabletop corkscrews the size of my drill press. All I use is a waiter-style corkscrew and a nice big glass that can handle a generous pour.<\/p>\n

But I had become frustrated with corks falling apart from bottles of old Bordeaux with bits falling into the wine. Filtering those out in front of a crowd was quite embarrassing, to say the least. Neither could I save the corks to my collection of memorable bottles, labels and corks. I had tried various types of corkscrews: long screw, Teflon-coated screw, one-step, two-step, and even the ah-so (yes, that\u2019s what it\u2019s called). If you are not familiar with the ah-so, it\u2019s a simple, two-pronged retriever; the prongs are inserted along the length of the cork between the glass and the cork without puncturing the cork.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Durand<\/p><\/div>\n

Recently I came across an ad for a new type of corkscrew that integrated an ah-so into the corkscrew\u2014it is called The Durand (www.TheDurand.com<\/a>). I wondered: Could this be the solution to my vintage cork removal problem? I had to get one and test-drive it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

How to work the Durand<\/p><\/div>\n

The idea is simple though very clever. You simply insert the corkscrew part into the cork, insert the ah-so along the length of the cork so that the handle is perpendicular to the corkscrew, and then simply grab both the corkscrew and ah-so and pull up. The cork comes out intact! How easy is that? Well, I did try it out on several bottles and it performed flawlessly.<\/p>\n

At $125, it ain\u2019t cheap, but it\u2019s well worth the money if you have vintage bottles waiting to be ah-soed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m not much for wine-service gadgets and gizmos, the like of the aerators now flooding the market, fancy funnels and decanters, and tabletop corkscrews the size of my drill press…. Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-product-reviews"],"yoast_head":"\nUncorking Old, Brittle Corks from Vintage Bottles - 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